This is an interesting documentary .
There are over 8 known craters found and if the trend will continue, more will appear.
These are not ordinary sinkholes.
And lakes(Like Esieh lake) in Alaska where methane bubbles from the bottom of the lake upwards, released into the air. And perhaps also CO2.
Edit, addendum :
Something to worry about.
Permafrost thawing causes lakes to appear and organic matter at the bottom of those lakes to decompose , consumed by methanogens (bacteria) that produce methane as part of their metabolic cycle.
This methane is released in the air, heats up the environment and this speeds up the thawing of the permafrost. This is a positive feedback loop that increases in speed over time.
But there are also huge methane reservoirs deep beneath the permafrost surface that release methane through cracks in the Earth crust, through the thawing permafrost.
President Trump better send engineers to Alaska to capture that methane while it is released.
Better to go to Alaska than Venezuela. Free methane, billions of gallons will be released over time now.
It can be done, just look at lake Kivu in Rwanda(IIRC, at the border with Congo).
There the methane is extracted from the water to as fuel for electric power plants (KivuWatt). Partially realized at the time by a Dutch engineering company.
When the Nyiragongo volcano spat out a huge lava flow and shook the entire Lake Kivu region last May, KivuWatt engineers had to keep their cool despite “the fear”. Their bet was to transform this diffuse threat into an “opportunity”, by pumping this gas to transform it into electricity.
www.africanews.comSmall exerpt from text:
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If triggered, a so-called limnic eruption would cause “a huge explosion of gas from deep waters to the surface” resulting in large waves and a poisonous gas cloud that would put the lives of millions at risk, said Darchambeau, environmental manager at KivuWatt.
“This is what we call a killer lake,” the limnologist, or an expert in freshwater systems, told AFP.
Only three such lakes exist in the world: Kivu, and Lakes Nyos and Monoun in northwest Cameroon.
The latter two experienced limnic eruptions in the 1980s, and the bigger disaster at Nyos suffocated more than 1,700 people in a toxic release of carbon dioxide.
But these catastrophes occurred in a rural area, whereas some two million people would be “at risk” of such a similar disaster involving Kivu, said Darchambeau.
In both Rwanda and DR Congo, many live in fear of the lake’s harmful potential, and stories abound of swimmers disappearing into its depths after being asphyxiated or pulled under.
KivuWatt, which says this is the only project of its kind anywhere in the world, saw an opportunity to tap these abundant gases for energy generation.
A 20-minute speedboat ride is required to reach KivuWatt’s unique floating platform, a compact tangle of pipes and buoys as high as a multi-storey building moored in the Rwandan part of Kivu.
With a deafening roar, the facility pumps water saturated with carbon dioxide and methane from around 350 metres (1,150 feet) to the surface.
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